CHICAGO MEDIA ACTION NEWSLETTER: August 9, 2006
http://www.chicagomediaaction.org
In this newsletter...
* Defamatory fired ex-radio shock jock joins Chicago public TV station WTTW
* Senate bill awareness rises after remarks from Ted "Series of Tubes" Stevens
* More AT&T shenanigans and criticism over proposed video in Chicago's suburbs
* The Tribune faces buyout offers and renewed attacks over its media empire
* Now you can see the brands you're not seeing in the movies you watch
(1) ANNOUNCEMENTS AND UPCOMING EVENTS
* Give WTTW your two cents! Tell Erich "Mancow" Muller to take a hike.
On July 31, 2006, WTTW-TV's flagship program "Chicago Tonight" announced
that, despite a record amount of negative feedback, "Chicago Tonight" will
broadcast a second commentary by former radio shock jock Erich "Mancow"
Muller due to air on Tuesday, August 22.
Muller simply comes with too much baggage: costly defamation issues (including
a $1.6 million lawsuit by former Chicago Bear Keith Van Horne) and a history of
massive FCC fines for indecency, amid well-founded charges of misogyny, racism,
and homophobia -- which cost him his previous job on Chicago's Q101 radio
station. Read more:
http://www.chicagomediaaction.org/news.php?id=475
Take action! Chicago Media Action strongly urges you to protest WTTW in
the "Mancow" matter:
Mail: WTTW Chicago Tonight 5400 N. St. Louis Ave. Chicago, IL 60625-4698
Email: chicagotonight@wttw.com
Main switchboard: 1-773-583-5000
* The month of August will be crucial for positioning in the struggle to
help save the internet. We encourage you to get involved. Learn more and
act:
http://www.savetheinternet.com/=senatemap?state=IL
* Amy Goodman, the host of the daily TV and radio news program Democracy Now!,
will be in Chicago in September. More details to come.
* Save the date: October 4, 2006. Chicago Media Action is currently
organizing a public education forum scheduled for October 4, 2006 -- dedicated
to the media and urban issues. More details to come.
(2) WHAT'S NEW IN MEDIA POLITICS?
* On July 25, the Federal Communications Commission has announced a Notice
of Proposed Rulemaking, opening the door to revisit the matter of the FCC's
controversial media ownership rule changes, opening a window of two rounds
of public comment. Read more:
http://www.stopbigmedia.com/blog/?p=14
* Senator Ted Stevens has unwittingly helped increase awareness of the current
Telecom Act rewrite by becoming a laughingstock with his remarks describing the
internet as a "series of tubes". For example:
http://senatorstevens.blogspot.com
http://www.seriesoffallopiantubes.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDRGdVf6Mf8
* On July 28, the controversial DOPA (Deleting Online Predators Act) to
prevent schools and public libraries from offering access to social
networking websites, was approved by the U.S. House. The bill has been
criticized as being overly restrictive against a host of internet
applications:
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060728-7375.html
* Suburban Chicago News reports: "Almost three months after AT&T sued the
village for restricting the construction of utility cabinets for its proposed
Project Lightspeed, North Aurora officials plan to ban the utility boxes for
another six months." Read more:
http://www.freepress.net/news/16697
In this vein, Jeffrey Ward in Suburban Chicago News remarked: "So let me get
this straight. AT&T is suing Geneva [Illinois, a Chicago suburb] over the
moratorium placed on their new Project Lightspeed. That is a novel strategy --
file a lawsuit against the very people you hope will eventually subscribe to
your service. I bet it took minutes to come up with that one." Read more:
http://tinyurl.com/s39lc
* Continuing developments in the current Tribune meltdown: Three Los
Angeles-area billionaires -- Eli Broad, David Geffen, and Ron Burkle -- have
written to the Tribune Company each asking to buy the Los Angeles Times from
Tribune. All three were told the newspaper is not for sale. (But for how
long?) Read more:
http://tinyurl.com/nk6gc
Meanwhile, consumer groups are working to end some of the Tribune's illegal
TV/newspaper duopolies:
http://www.freepress.net/news/16445
(3) FACTOID OF THE MONTH
PR Watch and the Guerrilla News Network report: "In early June George W. Bush
announced he was nominating sitcom producer, Warren Bell, to the board of the
Corporation for Public Broadcasting...Bell, who is an occasional contributor
to the online edition of National Review, describes himself as a not-so-secret
conservative." Read more:
http://www.gnn.tv/articles/2420/Spin_of_the_Week
(4) QUOTE OF THE MONTH
"It seems like a decision that was made arbitrarily and without the input of
listeners."
-- Mike Widdell, co-founder of the Web site savethemusiconwbez.org, a
grassroots effort that has collected more than 3,500 names on a petition to
veto the plan by Chicago Public Radio station WBEZ to eliminate virtually all
music from the station when it adds a second Chicago radio signal in early
2008. Read more:
http://tinyurl.com/le2pf
(5) WEBSITE OF THE MONTH
http://www.brandhype.org/MovieMapper/index.jsp
Brand Hype describes itself as "a new web resource designed to foster
informed debate about product placement in the movies."
(6) THIS MONTH'S FEATURED INDEPENDENT MEDIA RESOURCE
http://www.chicagoreporter.com/
The Chicago Reporter is a Chicago magazine published since 1972 of
critical journalism about race and poverty in Chicago.
*** *** *** *** *** *** ***
This is an email from Chicago Media Action, a Chicago activist
group devoted to media issues.
Chicago Media Action, P.O. Box 14140, Chicago IL 60614-0140
Call toll-free: 1-866-260-7198
Web: http://www.chicagomediaaction.org
E-mail: cma@chicagomediaaction.org
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